Snapchat Misleads, and Now Settles

choi

Jenna Wortham, Off the Record in a Chat App? Don’t Be Sure; Case against Snapchat tells users to beware. New York Times, May 9, 2014 (front-page top report).

Excerpt in the window of print: Doubt about others’ claims of security and anonymity

Quote:

“What happens on the Internet stays on the Internet.

“The company’s early popularity and hype led to a multibillion-dollar buyout offer last year from Facebook, which Snapchat’s leaders spurned in the hope of something better.

“Under the terms of settlement [with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday, May 8], Snapshot will be prohibited from misrepresenting how it maintains privacy and confidentiality of user information. The company will also be required to start a wide-ranging privacy program, a sort of probation, and will be independently monitored for 20 years. Fines could ensue if the company violates the agreement.

“The [FTC] complaint also said Snapchat transmitted users’ location information and collected sensitive data like address book contacts, despite its saying that it did not collect such information.

“And even Evan Spiegel, one of Snapchat’s founders, seemed to acknowledged as much in an interview. ‘Nothing ever goes away on the Internet,’ he said.

My comment: There is no need to read the rest, if only because the Snapchat’s claims defy common sense (say, those servers in between users).